Robert Southey (1774 1843), Romantic poet and friend of Coleridge, was poet laureate from 1813 to 1843. As well as being distinguished in verse, he also produced successful historical works and was a noted scholar of Portuguese. Between 1810 and 1819 he published this influential three-volume history, drawing on his extensive collection of Portuguese and Spanish books. Originally intended to be part of a larger work on the history of Portugal, this project evolved to focus on Brazil, beginning with its discovery and colonisation by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century and concluding with...

Robert Southey (1774 1843), Romantic poet and friend of Coleridge, was poet laureate from 1813 to 1843. As well as being distinguished in verse, he also produced successful historical works and was a noted scholar of Portuguese. Between 1810 and 1819 he published this influential three-volume history, drawing on his extensive collection of Portuguese and Spanish books. Originally intended to be part of a larger work on the history of Portugal, this project evolved to focus on Brazil, beginning with its discovery and colonisation by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century and concluding with...

Robert Southey (1774 1843), Romantic poet and friend of Coleridge, was poet laureate from 1813 to 1843. As well as being distinguished in verse, he also produced successful historical works and was a noted scholar of Portuguese. Between 1810 and 1819 he published this influential three-volume history, drawing on his extensive collection of Portuguese and Spanish books. Originally intended to be part of a larger work on the history of Portugal, this project evolved to focus on Brazil, beginning with its discovery and colonisation by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century and concluding with...

Thomas Chatterton (1752 70) was only seventeen when he died of arsenic poisoning. Among his family and friends he was known as a versifier with a fascination for medieval manuscripts, but none suspected the true scope of his work. At eleven, he was already writing poetry, and by the end of his life his love poems, eclogues and forged medieval pieces numbered in the hundreds. They were to influence the Romantics for decades after his death. This three-volume collection of his work, edited by Joseph Cottle and Robert Southey, first appeared in 1803. Volume 2 contains the Rowley poems, for which...

Thomas Chatterton (1752 70) was only seventeen when he died of arsenic poisoning. Among his family and friends he was known as a versifier with a fascination for medieval manuscripts, but none suspected the true scope of his work. At eleven, he was already writing poetry, and by the end of his life his love poems, eclogues and forged medieval pieces numbered in the hundreds. Chatterton is best known for the Rowley poems, which he claimed were transcribed from the work of a fifteenth-century monk. Although the precocious skill of his forgeries, once exposed, often went unrecognised by critics,...

Thomas Chatterton (1752 70) was only seventeen when he died of arsenic poisoning. Among his family and friends he was known as a versifier with a fascination for medieval manuscripts, but none suspected the true scope of his work. At eleven, he was already writing poetry, and by the end of his life his love poems, eclogues and forged medieval pieces numbered in the hundreds. Chatterton is best known for the Rowley poems, which he claimed were transcribed from the work of a fifteenth-century monk. Although the precocious skill of his forgeries, once exposed, often went unrecognised by critics,...

The Peninsular War (1807a1814) was a military conflict for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic War, where the French were opposed by British, Spanish, and Portuguese forces. The war began when the French and Spanish armies invaded and occupied Portugal in 1807 and lasted until the Napoleon's defeat in 1814.

The Peninsular War (1807a1814) was a military conflict for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic War, where the French were opposed by British, Spanish, and Portuguese forces. The war began when the French and Spanish armies invaded and occupied Portugal in 1807 and lasted until the Napoleon's defeat in 1814.